Snow showers could greet Muskegon-area residents Saturday

Chronicle/Kendra Stanley-MillsSydney Shepherd, 7, a first-grader at Bluffton Elementary School, decorates the sidewalk outside her grandparents' Muskegon home with colorful chalk Tuesday. This was the first time she has been able to use her sidewalk chalk this year. Residents better enjoy the nice weather while it lasts. Weather experts are predicting snow showers to return Saturday on the first day of spring after more than 10 days of temperatures in the 50s.

But folks have been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.

Two such fresh-air seekers were walking on the pier at Heritage Landing on Thursday. Larry and Tina Walker, from Muskegon Heights, were enjoying the spring melt.

“It’s beautiful today,” said Tina Walker as birds flew over the lake.

Larry Walker was grateful for the warmth, but “it could’ve been a little earlier,” he said. “It’s Michigan, though, so I’ll take what I can get.”

Crystal England, who was enjoying her time at Heritage Landing with her nephew, Ryan. “I think this is the most sun we’ve had in March since I can remember,” she said.

Chronicle/Ken StevensThe ice fishing season is over as this shanty lies on the Muskegon Lake shoreline at the end of Thompson Avenue near the Edgewater Street intersection Wednesday.
Wayne Hoepner, a meterologist at the Grand Rapids office of the National Weather Service, said spring weather in Michigian can be unpredictable.

“It’s spring, but we get measurable snow as late as May,” he said. “Even though we’re on a warming trend, there’s still a chance for winter-like weather.”

The weather service’s forecast for Muskegon calls for a high of 39 degrees and a 70 percent chance of snow Saturday. Sunday and Monday could only be slightly warmer, with a high of 44 and 43. Temperatures will begin to climb again Tuesday, with a predicted high of 51.

This is typical for this time of year, Hoepner said. “Colder temperatures will come in and stick around for at most a couple of days.”

The current weather comes at the beginning of what the National Weather Service considers to be the spring months.

Data from the weather service shows that Muskegon had a mostly average winter, with a little more than 73.2 inches of total snowfall and an average high of 31.8 degrees. This is only around nine inches less than the usual total amount, and only half a degree shy of the normal average temperature.

March’s current average is 48.6 degrees, which is more than 7 degrees higher than the normal.

After the cold weekend weather moves on, Muskegon residents can get back to enjoying the outdoors.